Monday, March 3, 2014

Linux: The new router

I'm in Canada, with Bell. The Fibe service is great, and now I'm on unlimited downloads, which I never use for anything illegal, just Linux upgrades. :) But Bell is notoriously cheap on their hardware. That Fibe router is Windows quality, and it craps out for anything else. The quality is Panasonic grade, and I've had one replaced already. It totally barfed with an ip phone.

What to do, what to do. I bought the TP-Link WDR4300 router from Costco. It is a powerful Linux machine. Then I looked up Openwrt and downloaded the latest version (look up the model #). It worked perfectly. Now I have to wait for everyone to leave the house, so I can make the final connection. You can turn the Bell router into a bridge for the Fibe protocol. That will be Part 2.

Addition: I'll just do it here. I set up the router, and then pressed the reset button on the Fibe router for 10 seconds. This makes it into a brainless bridge. I just plugged the new router out port into one of the standard ports of the Fibe thingie. It all worked like a charm. Now to see if there is any improvement.